"A properly handled capital ship can always beat off air attack". Phillips had declared - and, to be fair to him, I believe it was the Admiralty thinking at the time (he went down with his ship).
Not the only example of the self delusion of the R.N. at that time. I posted this some time ago.
In the 1930's the RN were convinced that the submarine threat was completely neutralised by their ASDIC.
There was, however, something worrying them.
During the First War, the Wicked Hun had sent ships to bombard East Coast ports. Their cunning plan was that the RN would send some cruisers down from Rosyth to investigate, and just out of sight they would have a force of heavy cruisers waiting to spring the trap
The RN, intent on fighting the previous war all over again, wanted the RAF to ensure that this could not happen.
The RAF therefore spent a lot of their pocket money on Ansons, which, while a lovely little aeroplane, was not suitable for anti-submarine work. It was, however just the thing for patrolling the seaward approaches to West Hartlepoole They even called this force Coastal Command.
When the penny dropped, there was a mad scramble to get more suitable aircraft.